Why an increasing number of GP appointments are taking place remotely

A third of GP nominations In England, in June, was made by phone or online, the highest proportion from the pandemic.

Family doctors have declared that remote consultations “offer convenience and flexibility that many patients appreciate”, and the majority of meetings are always delivered face to face.

The figure of 33.3% is up compared to 30.9% a year earlier in June 2024 and 28.3% in June 2023, according to a new analysis of NHS England data.

Up to four out of 10 meetings were made by phone or online during the pandemic, but the proportion has dropped once the impact of COVID 19 Blown and fell to 27.7% in January 2023.

Over the past two years, the figure has increased slowly but regularly, driven by a sharp increase in online consultations.

These represented only 1.5% of all the GP appointments in June 2023, but had increased to 4.9% by June 2024 and 8.0% in June of this year.

This contributed to pushing the combined figure for telephone appointments and online at its current post-pandemic summit of 33.3%.

The figure just for telephone appointments remained largely unchanged during this period, at around 25%.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, president of the Royal College of GPS (RCGP), said: “Remote consultations, whether delivered by phone or video, can offer convenience and flexibility that many patients appreciate, and evidence has shown that in the vast majority of cases, remote care is safe.

“Often, a general practitioner could initially consult a patient at a distance, then ask him to come into practice if it is necessary to see them in person.

“However, we also know that many patients prefer to access them in person, and this is how the majority of meetings are always delivered.

“In the past 12 months, general practitioners and their teams have delivered a record number of appointments, and nearly 250 million were carried out in person.”

Some 63.3% of GP meetings in June in England were in person, according to data, against 65.3% a year earlier and 68.4% in June 2023.

Online appointments include those made using live chat tools or non-video applications, as well as video calls.

The proportion of appointments that takes place by phone or online varies to another, with June figures ranging from 38.2% to London to 28.4% in the Northeast and Yorkshire.

Professor Hawthorne said the college “has a mixed approach to provide care” in general practice and decisions about how appointments are made between clinicians and patients.

“What is essential is that when general practitioners consult their patients remotely, they have access to robust and up-to-date IT systems that allow them to do so safely and effectively,” she added.

Professor Hawthorne said the government “had proposed encouraging proposals to improve digital infrastructure and IT systems for GP practice”, but “a significant investment” is necessary to make it a reality.

She added: “The college called for additional funding of at least 2 billion pounds sterling to ensure that our physical and digital infrastructure is capable of the objective so that we can offer patients the meeting that suits them.”

A Department of Health and Social Care The spokesman said: “We have made real progress by fixing the NHS entrance door, recruiting more than 2,000 general practitioners in the past year and offering 7 million additional GP meetings to improve access to patients.

“Thanks to our 10 -year health plan, we provide neighborhood health services that offer more personalized and proactive care in local areas where this is more practical for patients.

“This government is also clear that patients should have access to health and care when they need it and people who prefer an face-to-face meeting should have one, so we transform the NHS application to make management of your online health care easy and flexible.”

An NHS spokesperson in England said: “Each GP practice must offer face-to-face meetings where patients want or need them, and many patients choose remote meetings where it is clinically suitable and more practical for them.

“The GP teams are working hard to provide better access to patients, with a record number of appointments made in the past year and recent results showing that the number of patients satisfied with their practice has improved.”